GREETINGS!
Here is some items of interest of I have accumulated over the month. The information comes
from various newspapers (English and Amish), magazines, the internet, etc. I have used
their wording as much as possible.

AUCTIONS/BENEFITS

At the auction in Indiana in March, 137 springers were sold selling from $1,000 to
$1,475

Ohio - 2,000 pizzas were made and sold. Proceeds of the sale went to the new
school being built.

In April, a hospital benefit auction was held in Delaware to pay the huge hospital
bills of the 3 Amish teenagers (2 brothers and a sister) that were injured in
December. The buggy was demolished by a hit-and-run driver. All three were
injured. 2 very serious.

Live near an Amish community - watch your paper for various auctions (school
benefit, hospital, etc). The summer months are the best time to catch one of these.
They are very interesting, have variety of merchandise at a reasonable price, have
good food, and you help out the community.

Leftover Cornbread- Don't throw left over cornbread out.
Melt butter in a skillet, chop up onions (to taste) and crumble up cornbread in
skillet. Cook till hot. Make's a good side dish. Tastes like hush puppys
or some call this dish poor boy. Thanks to Kelly for this great idea.

A Missouri Amish community makes noodles that they sell at a local stand to benefit
the school fund. They used 124 eggs in one day.

Uses for vinegarKill weeds by spraying full strength on growth until plants starve.Vinegar also kills grass on walks and driveways.Deter ants by spraying vinegar around doors and appliances.Eggs - add 2 tablsp. in water before boiling eggs. Keeps them from cracking
(more next month)

The obituary of an Amish gentlemen listed the following details: Abe had 55
grandchildren, 173 great-grandchildren, and 3 great-great-grandchildren.

Ice houses were filled in Maine just in time before the weather warmed. 25
tons were collected ranging in thickness from about 15 inches to 20 inches. Several
inches of rotten ice was peeled off before they got the good ice.

Most Amish schools will complete the school year by the end of April.

Some communities are now allowing the use of fiberglass buggies. A recent
accident in Michigan seems to lean toward the safety of these buggies. A car
recently hit a new fiberglass buggy. The buggy was bent out of shape and the safety
glass splintered but there were no injuries. An Amish gentlemen commented a wooden
buggy would have been splintered.

A new married couple arrived home to hear a constant knocking sound. After a
thorough search, they ran down the guilty culprit making the noise. It was a bird
outside the basement window apparently fighting with its own image in the window. (Is
this where the term bird brain came from?)

Ohio Accident - a vehicle hit a buggy from behind pushing the buggy up a hill into
another car that was waiting to turn. The buggy driver was then dragged a short
distance by the horse which then collapsed and died a short while later. The buggy
driver was trapped under the demolished buggy and required numerous stitches.

An Amish couple (Glick) was cleared of all child abuse charges on 3/9/00.
Their daughter died in December of a brain hemorrhage. Authorities have acknowledged
the child's injuries were caused by a rare genetic vitamin K deficiency.

Ohio - April 10 - the bluebirds have laid eggs already

Michigan - Buggy accident goes to trial. The accident happened between a
truck and a buggy. They truck driver struck the buggy injuring the 17 year old buggy
driver and his 11 year old brother. The truck driver said the buggy had no
lights. People saw the buggy lanterns lit and they where still lit after the
accident . The police report stated that the buggy had no lights but this info was
obtained from the truck driver. The county magistrate dismissed the ticket against
the buggy driver ruling the burden was on the policeman to prove the lights weren't on the
buggy. The truck driver did not appear in court and the Amish buggy driver and his
father refused to give a sworn testimony but answered questions. Note: the
Amish has asked county road commissioners to post buggy warning signs along country roads.
The commissioners response has been they will post the signs if the Amish will put
an orange reflector sign on the back of the buggy. The Amish has refused stating the
bright orange color is against their religion. The Amish has offered to pay for the
signs and the cost of installation, but the commissions have refused.

MIGRATIONS
& SETTLEMENT INFO

According to one Amish/Mennonite
publication:

There were 517 migrations in 1999

536 in 1998

507 in 1997

there were 9 new settlements started in NY, KY, MO, TX, PA, MD and 3 in WI

2 settlements ended - VA and KY

38 families moved out of Lancaster County

there has been an estimated 8,293 migrations from 1/1/72 through 12/31/98

Reported by the area's budget scribe in March 2000 -- the Lyles TN community is
going extinct and the one grave is being moved to MO.

My personal comment - In 2000, I have noticed movement out of Enon Valley
settlement. I wonder if this will be on the 2000 list.

REAL ESTATE

Kentucky - 112 acres sold for $286,000.00 in a public
auction. A new house and dairy barn was included.

Pennsylvania near Martinsburg - an 89 acre diary farm went for $405,000.

Wisconsin - an 80 acre farm sold for $2,000 an acre

Michigan - an 80 acre farm mostly tillable sold for $179,000.

FARMING

New vocabulary word you will be hearing -- Agritourism -- entertainment
farming

By the last week of March, farmers are plowing and some are discing. A few
farmers are even sowing oats.

New York area - maple syrup seems to be darker this season, but good tasting.
One Amishman made 63 gallons from 400 taps and another one got over 100 gallons
from 1,000 taps. Indiana area - the syrup crop was only about 1/4
of normal.

Michigan - March 30 - 105,000 pepper seeds where sowed in their greenhouse.
Plans are for more to be sowed. The plants have been ordered by several Amish
communities.

Ohio - 6,000 pounds of seed potatoes were delivered for planting.

Pennsylvania - Amish and Mennonite farmers have refused their shares of a $22
million tobacco industry settlement. Russell Redding, state deputy agriculture
secretary, stated only 322 of the state's estimated 1,200 tobacco growers have applied for
funds. Most of this states tobacco farmers are either Amish or Mennonite.News article - http://www.pottsville.com/pub/2000/Mar/21/E410918A.htm

Some Amish farmers have been investigating the possible switch to organic farming.
There are a lot of government restrictions with this type farming. Few have
made the switch but some adventurous farmers have purchased 300 ducks to try their hand at
organically-grown ducks. Maybe you'll see them in your store.

Dairy farming:

In PA, average price for milk in 1999 was $14.58 c.w.t. January 2000 it was
$12.50 c.w.t.

In WI, the 1999 average milk price was $12.22. January 2000 price was $9.50.

According to the Pa. Dairy Promotion Program:

Advertising: $.15 of every 100 lbs. of milk is spent for advertising by
diary farmers

Milk sales has increase by 29% since 1984.

Per capita consumption of all dairy products has risen 11.5%

Milk prices by area

WI - $9.50 cwt - Feb

Pennsylvania
Dutch - illness terms

Gramp - cramp

Bloder - blister

Darichlaaf or Fludders or Leibweh or Schpringers or
Summerblog - diarrhea

Mumps - mumps

LINKS
- URL's I found interesting. URL's can be either Amish or nonAmish.

From school records from 1910-1920 - Manatee CountyThe school term generally lasted for 16 weeks in both the fall and springThe teacher's salary was $45 monthly but by 1920 it had risen to $80
Size was from 8 to 16 students

SAYINGS

Consider how hard it is to change yourself and you'll understand what little chance
you have of trying to change others.

There is no right way to do a wrong thing.

There is no food value in wild oats.

A dime goes a long way these days: you can carry it for several weeks before you
can find anything it will buy.

Feel free to email me if
you have something for the newsletter -- news items, a link, information, recipes, etc. Comments or suggestions on the newsletter are also welcome.Email: mailto:amishbuggy1@excite.com

Have a
safe and happy month. If you celebrate the Easter season - may your family have a
blessed Easter.